4 simple ways to beat attrition and retain your hotel staff

Staff turnover is common in industries but it is more common in the hospitality and aviation industries. As per a study conducted by American Hotel & Motel Association, average turnover rate among management staff is 25% and non-management staff is 50% in the US hotel industry.

The high attrition rates in the hotel industry results in decreased productivity which can have adverse effects on the hotel’s reputation and guest experience. Hotels have to focus on how to improve the employee satisfaction levels to help retain them in the hotel.

We share a few tips:

Nurture a positive culture: There can be multiple factors that contribute to the attrition rate like inappropriate recruitment, employee dissatisfaction levels, underpayment and more. Therefore, take time to identify the problem areas and try to rectify it. Taking employee feedback on regular basis helps in identifying their problems and providing the necessary solutions. Since your staff is associated with your hotel, they are in the best position to tell you what’s working and what’s not.

Encouraging staff members to interact with each other also brings in positivity to the work culture. Give them a common day or a platform to interact with each other to exchange positive thoughts or suggestions.

Reward their efforts: Employees appreciate being valued and rewarded for their efforts. This creates a pleasant work atmosphere as it gives rise to healthy competition and encourages them to perform better with every passing day. While monetary remuneration is a great reward, surveys also suggest that incentives alone are not enough to retain the employees if they personally feel disengaged with the work. Simple things like acknowledging good work in person or through staff communications, highlighting their effort on social media or bestowing them with ‘employee of the month/quarter’ award will drive them to stay back.

Train till they achieve perfection: Your hotel staff needs to be trained regularly in order to understand the duties and provide a satisfying guest experience. Train the staff on their conduct, presentation, interpersonal and communication skills that will be beneficial for both hotel and staff. The training will also help them transfer their skills to other hotels in future. Trainings will also give them a sense of belongingness to the hotel. (Also read: How to train your staff to attend to guests?)

Empower them with technology: New-age technology like hotel software will help in easing the load of the staff and give them a lot of free time to concentrate on enhancing the guest experience. When crucial processes are automated, it results in lesser errors and slip-ups as it works without involving people. Important functions like status of the reservations, managing outlets, assigning tasks to the housekeeping, tracking reports or taking guest feedback will all be possible through software. This will take the unnecessary load off your employees.

If you understand your employees, analyze the factors that demotivates them and provide them with timely solutions, it will help you retain the efficient employees.

Give your staff a PMS that will ease their tasks

Manisha Pathak is a Content Writer at Hotelogix. She creates helpful articles, eBooks and other content resources for hoteliers. With a passion towards writing, she loves writing on topics that helps hoteliers, especially small and mid-sized, to keep up-to-date with the latest news and current trends in the hospitality industry. Connect with her at manisha.pathak@hotelogix.com

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